by Ebony Davis | Nov 12, 2026 | News
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a group that included his wife were admonished by a military guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Wednesday after laughter broke out near the solemn memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
In footage captured by the White House press pool, Hegseth, along with his wife, Jennifer, and several others, can be seen posing for photographs near the tomb shortly after President Donald Trump delivered remarks at the cemetery as part of Veterans Day commemorations and left the grounds.
As the group finished posing for photos and began walking away, laughter was heard near the tomb. A sentinel guarding the tomb then shouted the reminder of the cemetery’s strict rules of conduct.
“All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times,” the sentinel yelled.
It was not immediately clear who in the group was laughing.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is one of the nation’s most sacred military memorials, honoring unidentified American service members who died in combat. It is guarded around the clock by soldiers from the Army’s 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, nicknamed “The Old Guard.”
Visitors are expected to maintain silence and show respect while near the tomb, where sentinels conduct a highly choreographed changing of the guard.
The incident happened a day after Pentagon security officials threatened to physically remove reporters from Hegseth’s first news conference in six months if they failed to maintain decorum or behaved unprofessionally. Journalists pressed officials on what conduct could warrant removal but received little clarification. No reporters were removed.
Later that day, Hegseth survived an impeachment effort led by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who accused the defense secretary
by Gabe Borelli | Nov 12, 2026 | elections, News, News Analysis
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. By many metrics, Colom’s victory is nothing short of remarkable: Mississippi was the “reddest” of Democrats’ Senate pickups this year, a state President Donald Trump carried by 23 points in 2024.
So how did Colom do it? He won with an electorate that looked different from 2024’s, a small but decisive slice of Trump voters and Mississippians who wanted a check on the president.
Colom’s raw vote total has exceeded Kamala Harris’ 2024 total — an impressive feat, given that midterms draw far fewer voters than presidential elections. With 99% of votes counted, Colom has received roughly 473,000 votes, already several thousand more than Harris’ roughly 467,000. At the same time, Hyde-Smith earned nearly 300,000 fewer votes than Trump won in the state two years ago.
Colom’s relative strength was not limited to any one place. He won 38 of Mississippi’s 82 counties, including 18 that Trump carried in 2024. Ten of those were counties Democrats also lost in 2020.
Colom didn’t just win parts of the state that backed Trump heavily — he did so decisively. He carried 10 counties by double digits that Trump carried in 2024. In Forrest County, named after the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Colom won by more than 10 points. In Lowndes and Pike, both Trump 2024 counties, his margins were 16 and 18 points, respectively. Even where Colom trailed Hyde-Smith, his vote totals often approached or exceeded Harris’ in 2024. That held Hyde-Smith to single-digit margins in counties like Wayne and Lauderdale, which Trump carried by double digits.
A different electorate
The Voter
by Priya Sridhar | Nov 12, 2026 | Iran, News, World News
At a combative town hall of 500 family members of the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group, Navy leaders said Iranian attacks continue to “pepper” U.S. ships enforcing the blockade of Iran. They also informed families that their deployed loved ones would not be returning home for the holidays, according to exclusive audio of the Nov. 9 meeting at Naval Station Norfolk, provided by an attendee and reviewed by MS NOW.
This is the second time the strike group’s deployment has been extended since it left Norfolk, Virginia, on March 31 for what was supposed to be a standard six- to seven-month set of orders. Navy leaders told families to plan for a worst-case scenario of a yearlong deployment.
“I’m sorry, I’ve been there. I know what it feels like, I know how hard it is when your kids are asking ‘When’s daddy coming home? When’s mommy coming home?’” Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao told families during the Monday night meeting in an auditorium at the Navy base.
Family members did not hold back with Navy leaders.
One person in the audience called the war “unsanctioned.” Another audience member told Navy leaders in the room, “Trust within the force and among our families is heavily strained right now between record-breaking stretches without relief, shifting timelines and the feeling that communication downplays the reality on the ground. Families are burning out under the immense strain.”
At times, family members yelled at Navy leaders, saying they were not answering their questions and were giving them the “runaround.” One family member asked what the Navy was doing to push back on President Donald Trump so
by Sydney Carruth | Nov 12, 2026 | Congress, elections, News
In perhaps the most stunning upset of the 2026 midterm cycle, Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s closely contested Senate race.
Colom’s historic win marks the eighth Senate seat Democrats were able to flip from Republican control this cycle, giving the party a total of 55 seats in the chamber. If Democrats win the still-undecided Alaska Senate race, their majority will grow to 56-44.
Hyde-Smith called Colom to concede around 6 p.m. ET, two sources close to the Colom campaign told MS NOW. The GOP senator posted a video to X moments later, saying, “I respect the decision of Mississippi voters. I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”
He also received congratulatory phone calls Wednesday night from former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, both of whom endorsed Colom, a campaign spokesman told MS NOW.
Colom will become Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction and the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the Southern GOP stronghold since 1982. His surprise victory underscores the seismic shift toward the Democratic Party, even in the Deep South.
Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, hailed the victory for Colom and for Black voters whose political power was curtailed by the Supreme Court and threatened by the Trump administration.
“Black voters once again demonstrated the power of civic engagement and the strength of our democracy,” Johnson said. “Even in the face of efforts to remove voters from the rolls, attempts to intimidate voters and election officials, and bids to create fear around the electoral process, Mississippi voters showed up.”
The
by Symone D. Sanders Townsend | Nov 12, 2026 | 2026 election, Congress, elections, Opinion
I tried to tell you all. In January, I said on “The Weeknight” that Scott Colom could be a convincing candidate for the U.S. Senate. In August, when our list of 12 Senate races to watch left Mississippi off, I told viewers to pay attention anyway. I believed he could win.
Wednesday night, it became official: Colom defeated Cindy Hyde-Smith, becoming the first Black senator elected by Mississippi voters and the first Democrat the state has sent to the Senate since 1982. The last Black senators chosen to represent Mississippi, Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce, were selected during Reconstruction, a time when all U.S. senators were picked by state legislators and not voters.
In 1962, Fannie Lou Hamer went to the courthouse in Indianola to try to register to vote. The plantation owner she worked for told her to withdraw her application. She refused and lost her job. Two years later, she went to the Democratic National Convention to challenge an all-white delegation that claimed to represent Mississippi. Hamer understood that representation depended on who had the power to choose and that building that power took work.
People keep asking me what I saw in this race.
People keep asking me what I saw in this race. I saw a candidate who knew how to compete in Mississippi, and years of nonpartisan organizing that helped build an electorate ready to hear him.
Start with Colom himself. He had already won election as district attorney in a majority-white district and been re-elected twice. In 2022, President Joe Biden nominated him for a federal judgeship. Mississippi’s senior Republican senator, Roger Wicker, supported the nomination. Sen. Cindy
